Darren Carlton of Capture That Photography in Prim, Ark., and his LexJet customer specialist, Michael Clementi, came up with a great idea that clients love and helps ensure return business: Growth charts printed on Photo Tex repositionable fabric from LexJet.

Carlton markets the concept to his Baby Plan clients, those who come in for baby portraits. The target age for the growth charts is 12 months old up to two years so that it’s easy to measure the child and chart their growth from there for the next five photo sessions.

So, for instance, if the child is photographed at 18 months old, they’re measured and photographed to create the original growth chart. The chart, which includes a five foot high measuring stick, is printed at 17 in. x 5 ft. on Photo Tex, and sold as part of a five-session package for $60.

Then, in subsequent sessions – say when the child is two, three, four and five – Carlton’s wife, Misti, photographs the child, scales it so that the print of the child is relative to the growth chart and prints out just the image of the child to be applied over the previous image on the original growth chart.

“The goal is to get them to come in every year, order from us and then give them a print they can add to the growth chart so they can see how much their child changes and grows. Ideally, they apply to the child’s bedroom wall as part of the room’s décor,” explains Carlton. “I put the program together a few weeks ago and I’ve showed it to about six clients with children that age and everyone of them has either done it or is coming back to do it. I’m not marking up the Photo Tex print that much, but I plan on getting more return business from it.”